Aims: To compare plasma adiponectin levels between healthy controls and
patients with chronic renal failure and to examine for a relationship
between plasma adiponectin levels and ischemic heart disease as well as
aortic distensibility which is an early marker of atherosclerosis.
Methods: We included 89 patients with CRF (45 on and 44 not on
hemodialysis) and 70 controls in a cross-sectional study. Plasma
adiponectin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Aortic
distensibility was assessed by high-resolution ultrasonography. Results:
Plasma adiponectin levels were significantly almost twice as high in
patients with renal failure compared to controls (9.7 +/- 1.1 vs. 5.4
+/- 0.6 mug/ ml, p<0.0001). No significant differences were found
between renal patients on hemodialysis and not on hemodialysis (p =
0.71). Multivariate linear regression analysis in the renal patient
group demonstrated a significant negative relationship between plasma
adiponectin levels and ischemic heart disease (p = 0.02). The same
analysis in the control subjects group showed a significant, negative
relationship between plasma adiponectin levels and body mass index (p =
0.02) and a highly significant positive relationship with the high
density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.0001). In the total study
population, glomerular filtration rate was the only independent
predictor of plasma adiponectin concentrations. Aortic distensibility
was lower in renal patients than in controls at a high level of
significance (p<0.0001). However, no significant relationship could be
found between plasma adiponectin and aortic distensibility in either the
controls or the renal patients. Conclusions: Plasma adiponectin levels
are almost twice as high in patients with chronic renal failure in
comparison with healthy controls, but not different between renal
patients on and those not on hemodialysis. In addition, low plasma
adiponectin levels are strongly associated with ischemic heart disease,
but not with aortic distensibility in chronic renal failure